Archer&#39;s bow



March 21, 1961 c, FISHER 2,975,780

ARCHER S BOW Filed NOV. 17, 1958 INVENTOR.

JOSEPH C. FISHER ATTORNEYS it d States Patent 2,975,780 ARCHERS BOW Joseph C. Fisher, Box 203, Rte. 4, Celina, Ohio Filed Nov. 17,1958, Ser. No. 774,463

A 4 Claims; ((1124-2243 I This invention pertains to archers bows and more particularly to an improved long bow in which certain deleterious effects of the bow on the arrow during flight have been eliminated. More specifically, this invention provides a means for the reduction or the elimination of any force, touching, or impact of the arrow against the bow immediately following its release and subsequent free flight.

The tortuous path of any arrow in flight from a hand held bare bow has been described as the Toxophilists Paradox. This term was applied, and the elfect first accurately described, by Dr. J. Rendtorlf in Forest and Stream magazine on February 8, 1913, and has sub sequently been proved by extreme slow motion photography. No attempt is made here to elaborate upon the many forces and their effects on the arrow and the bow during the passage of the length of the arrow past the handle as such may be had by reference to standard works on the subject. However, the flight of an arrow from a bare bow should be generally understood for an understanding of the improved archers bow of this invention. p

The term paradox was coined to describe the fact that an arrow, upon being released, follows a-course to the target in spite of; having .to circumvent the bow handle. :Slow motion analysis has confirmed (l) the ,existence of an initial impact which the arrow imparts upon the bare bow handle against which it rests upon finger loose, (2) a first bending of the arrow to the right asits movement is resisted by its own inertia, and (3) a subsequent bending to the left as the arrow gets under way until the nock leaves the bowstrong. Upon clearing the handle, a second reversal occurs in free flight where the arrow tends to right itself. This combination of events gives the arrow the ability, under ideal conditions, to fly true from the bare long bow in spite of the initial handicap.

The conditions which affect the arrows ability. to reverse its curvature to completely clear the handle are dependent upon such factors as the rigidity or spine of the arrow and its relation to the Weight of the bow. A stele too flexible for a given bow may not recover from its first flexure to the right and may slap the handle as it passes. Such contact adds afurther abberation to what may otherwise be a true flight, and is often observed in flight as a wagging shaft. In order to avoid this difiiculty, arrows must carefully be matched to the bow to take best advantage of their periodicity in order to pass the bow and follow a true flight pattern.

The popularity of the bare long bow of historical fame has given away to more scientific bow construction and configuration of recent origin. In particular, the center shot bow where one side of the bow handle is cut away for the rest and arrow-pass is the result of study in an attempt to bring the arrow shaft more nearly in line with the arrow flight path and the plane of stringmovement. It is well known that any reduction in thewidthof the Handle" at arrow-pass to reduce the angle of paradox ice ' has a proportionately good effect on the arrows flight because it favorably influences other factors. However, a bows strength is in its handle and, in the case of the center shot how, the handle is deepened usually toward the string at brace to make up for the strength lost by such as plastic, appears to oifer flight advantages over the usual deformable type but with the penalty that contact of the fletching with the hand-1e or the hand is avoided or the consequences suifered.

A primary purpose of this invention is to provide a long bow so constituted that many of the deleterious effects of the paradox are eliminated to the end that consistently higher scores may be obtained without the restricting limitations as are now imposed by the tackle. This is accomplished by the employment of a disappear ing arrow rest which is effective to support the stele only during the initiation of its flight and which is then positively removed from the path of the arrow.

This invention permits the analysis of the arrows release flight as being comprised of three chronological phases. First, the guided phase, during which the disappearing arrow rest supports the arrow. Provision is included for the adjustment of the duration of the guided phase, but in any event, it is preferably held to a relatively small portion of the length of the draw. Second, the inertial phase, duringwhich time the arrow is under the influence of the bowstring and, due to the employment of this invention, no part of the arrow comes into contact with the bow. Third, the vane guided phase when the nockpiece is free of the bowstring. The arrow is now substantially in a linear flight path and clears the handle without touching it.

' This invention has particular merit as applied to the clear, center-shot long bow, in order that the disappearing arrow rest may be aligned most advantageously in the plane of the string movement. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the arrow rest may be applied with advantage to other types of bows to give initial support to the arrow clear of the bow handle.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide an archers bow as outlined above including a disappearing arrow rest.

A further object of this invention is to provide an archers bow as outlined above including means for the initial support of the arrow and further, for removing the support shortly after the initiation of its flight.

Another object of this invention is to provide a movable arrow rest which is actuated in one direction by the movement of the bow limbs.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an archers bow as outlined above including an automatic arrow rest which comes into an operative position upon substantial full draw and which at all other times is in an inoperative position.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means establishing a clearance to obviate the possibility of contact of the fletching of a conventional arrow with any part of the bow as the arrow leaves the bow in flight.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be' apparent from the following'descriptiomthe accompany-v ing drawings and the appended claims.

immediately below the shelf 21.

Fig. is an elevational view of the bow handle looking at the belly of the bow showing the arrow rest in the operative position with the inoperative position shown in outline form;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational fragmental of the arrow rest of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section taken' generally along the line 77 of Fig. 5.

It will be understood that, in accordance with usual archery practice, the following description is given in terms of a bow for a right-handed archer, and that the invention may be utilized with equal facility for lefthanded archers by a suitable reversal of parts.

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, a long bow made according to the teachings of this invention is designated at 10. The bow includes the usual upper limb 13 and lower limb 14 integrally joined at a handle 16. The handle 16 is recessed on the arrow-pass side 17 in the manner of a clear, center-shot long bow. Since it is necessary to make up wood at the handle to provide the necessary strength to prevent torsional twisting of the bow limbs and bending at the handle, the wood is most advantageously employed in the form of an overdraw 18. A hand grip portion 200i the handle is formed immediately below the overdraw 18 and is separated therefrom by a horizontal guard shelf 21. The shelf 21 protects the archers hand from any accidental contact with a loosed arrow and is not to be confused with an arrow shelf. A bow string 23 is nocked at the lower and upper limbs in the usual manner.

The bow It) includes means associated with the handle 16 including a movable arrow rest 30 which is effective to support an arrow 31 at substantially full draw and movable from an arrow shaft support position into an inoperative clear position immediately after the release of the arrow. The rest 30 is preferably formed of sheet metal and includes a pair of spaced pivot arms 33 folded parallel to each other on one side of the rest 30. The pivot arms 33 embrace a pair of spaced pivot bosses 34 formed on the handle 16 to the rear of the overdraw 18 A pivot pin 36 extends through the assembled arms 33 and the bosses '34 and is suitably secured in place as by enlarged heads 37 to provide for the pivotal movement of the rest 30 on the bosses 34.

The bow 2%) includes bias means for normally tending to urge the rest 30 into the support position in the form of a torque spring 40 mounted on the pivot pin 36. The spring 4% includes one spring arm 41 into engagement with the outer surface 42 of the rest 30 and another spring arm 43 in pressing engagement with the bow handle 16 between the bosses 34. The torque spring 49 is stressed so as to urge the rest 3t) into an operative support position, as shown by the full lines in Fig. 5.

The rest 39 includes an arrow support portion consisting of a ledge 45 in the upper left-hand corner. The ledge 45 is positioned so as to support an arrow stele 46 slightly above the shelf 21 and to the left or the arrowpass 18 with the arrow shaft substantially in line with the strings plane of movement as indicated by the dashed line 48. The width of the space which may thereby be 4 provided between the handle 16 on the right and the shelf 21, if any, on the bottom, is affected by considerations of the diameter of the stele, the anticipated type of fletching and the angle, if any, between the strings plane of movement and the drawn arrow. However, an oif-set width, approximately equal to the diameter of the stele 46, has been found satisfactory in preventing arrow contact with the bow handle, although other positions may be found equally satisfactory.

Positive displacement means are included for effecting the removal of the arrow rest 30 .torender it inoperative after it has served its purpose in supporting the arrow 31 at the commencement of flight including an operable connection to the rest and one of the bow limbs. This consists of an actuator string 50 connected at one end to the rest 30 above the pivot pin 36 and passed through the loop 51 on the bow string 23 to a small nock 52 at the end of the lower bow limb 14. The length of the string 50 may be adjusted so that it permits the torque spring 40 to raise the rest 30 into the operative position upon substantially full draw of the arrow 31 as shown in Fig. 1 and removes the rest 30 by rotating it about the pivot pin 36 upon the initial flight of the arrow from loose as shown in Fig. 2 upon the straightening of the bow limbs.

It is therefore seen that a disappearing arrow rest is provided which automatically assumes an operative position upon substantially full draw of the arrow to support the arrow stele 46 in the manner described and is positively removed from any possibility of hindrance in the flight path of the arrow by the actuator string 50 upon the straightening of the bow limbs. It is further noted that the rest 30 in no way interferes with the normal sighting of the bow, and moving as it does in a vertical plane, has no reactionary effect upon the line of flight.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a clear center shot long bow having a bow limb, an arrow support movably mounted on the bow and effective to support an arrow at full draw, and means connected to said bow limb to move said support from the flight path of an arrow upon the straightening of said limb from loose.

2. In a clear center shot long bow having a handle and a bow limb, an arrow support pivotally mounted on said handle and effective to support an arrow at full draw substantially in line with the plane of movement of the bow string, and means connecting said support to said bow limb to remove said support about its pivot from the flight path of an arrow upon the straightening of said limb from loose.

3. In a clear center shot long bow with an overdraw handle and a hand guard and having bow limbs, the improvement comprising an arrow rest movably mounted on said handle on the side adjacent the bow string between an arrow shaft support position and a clear position, said rest including an arrow support portion adapted to receive in said support position an arrow stele above said guard and offset from said handle, bias means normally tending to move said rest into said support position, and means including an operative connection to said rest and to one of said how limbs to cause the movement of said rest into said clear position upon the straightening of said limbs from loose.

4. In a clear center shot long bow with an overdraw handle and a hand guard and bow limbs, the improvement comprising an arrow rest, means for pivotally mounting said rest on said handle on the side adjacent the bow string for substantial vertical rotational movement between a raised arrow shaft support position and 5 6 to a loweredclear position, said rest including an arrow 2,691,974 Nelson Oct. 19, 1954 support portion adapted to receive in said raised position 2,777,435 Brooks Jan, 15, 1957 an arrow stele above said guardand slightly offset from said handle, and means including an operable connection OTHER REFERENCES to said rest and to one of said bow limbs to cause the 5 A h Magazine f Ju 1957, page 55 cited. lowering of said rest into said clear position upon the straightening of said one limb from loose.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 1,961,517 Klopsteg June 5, 1934 

